


Accident Prone

by I_Live_In_A_Trash_Can



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Self-Harm, good ol patton angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 08:13:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14076678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Live_In_A_Trash_Can/pseuds/I_Live_In_A_Trash_Can
Summary: Patton is a bit accident prone.Virgil finds out why.





	Accident Prone

**Author's Note:**

> Take the tags seriously, guys. There is self harm and angst in this one.
> 
> Also sorry if anything is worded weird or seems out of character I need sleep hahahahahahaha

Patton was a bit clumsy.

The Sides had only _really_ began to notice recently, but Patton often fumbled with things, dropped glasses (and sometimes got cut with the shards), tripped, accidentally burned himself on the stove, cut his cheek while shaving from time to time, and missed the mark when chopping vegetables. He had even fallen down the stairs on a few occasions.

Logan had noted that he had always observed Patton to be a bit more accident prone than the others, but it had seemed to almost increase in the past year.

He had passed it off as nothing to be alarmed with. They would simply watch Patton a bit more and stock up on medicine supplies in case the Moral Side's accidents resulted in injury.

But the other Sides' efforts to keep Patton's mishaps under control were to no avail.

They either happened when none of the others were around, or when they weren't near enough.

Logan had also acknowledged that Patton's accident rate seemed to spike when Thomas or one of the other Sides was in a stressful situation, or when an argument had occurred.

Another thing he ignored.

It all made sense to the Logical Side. Patton was easily distracted in the first place, and emotions could tend to cloud the mind even further (Ugh, feelings). This distraction, in turn, would result in the lack of coordination.

He continued to keep an eye on Patton all the same.

It wasn't too long after Thomas' break-up with his boyfriend when one of the more... severe accidents happened.

Patton had been going down the stairs at a bit faster pace while carrying a nearly empty glass of water when he tripped.

Virgil had been right behind him.

The Anxious Side still had nightmares about Patton's sliced up body at the bottom of the staircase.

Except in his nightmares, things ended a lot worse.

A little before the Moving On videos were recorded, Patton had been making dinner for the four in the Mindscape. Roman had barged into the kitchen and startled the father figure, causing him to jump and mis-cut.

A few days after Christmas, the Moral Side had walked out into the living room of the Commons with a glass in one hand. He stubbed his toe on the couch, threw out a hand in an attempt to stop himself from falling, dropped the glass, and fell anyways.

Or, began to fall.

Logan had been nearby. He leapt into action, catching the other before he could land.

Luckily, neither Patton nor the glass were harmed.

So what, he was a bit clumsy? The rest of them could help him. Plus, he could work on that. Logan wasn't worried.

 

 

Roman was a bit concerned, but he didn't let it get to him. Patton had never let his incidents get in the way before.

It amazed the Creative Side how well Patton dealt with his accidents. He took them in stride, apologizing for the scare, moving on with a smile on his face.

All they could really do, in his opinion, was keep a few first aid kits around, keep a close eye on him, and, after some consideration, replace all of their glass dishes with plastic.

 

 

Virgil, on the other hand, was _very worried._

Well, duh. He's Anxiety, it's his **job** to worry.

It took forever, but he finally convinced Roman to get rid of all of their glass cups and plates. He kept a few first aid kits of his own in spare places just in case. He made sure to spend more time around Patton, and to watch him, and to be nearby.

Usually he hated close proximity or contact with others, but for Patton, it was worth it.

 

 

The Anxious Side gently rapped his knuckles on the father figure's door. Roman had decided on another movie night, and Virgil had volunteered to tell Patton.

There was no response after a few seconds. Virgil swallowed audibly. He would have to knock louder.

He lifted his hand to knock again when he heard something from inside.

It was faint, but familiar.

A whimper of pain.

He ditched knocking, opening the door instead and glancing around. He was about to call out before he spotted that the Moral Side's bedroom door was open to the hallway, and the light was on in the bathroom.

He didn't even have to get closer to see what was happening.

The reflection of the mirror revealed Patton holding a razor, attempting to shave.

He messed up again, wincing and letting out another whimper as a new cut was made.

He was crying-

No, he looked like he had been crying for a while.

He missed again, expression cold and downcast.

Dread fell cold in the younger Side's stomach as he realized.

He wasn't doing it on accident.

He was doing it on purpose.

It all made sense now.

"Patton?" He called, _somehow_ managing to keep his fear out of his voice.

The aforementioned jumped, the razor cutting his cheek again. He winced, quickly diving for bandaids and antibiotic.

"Yeah, kiddo?" He replied, making sure the other couldn't catch his expression from the mirror's reflection.

He should've spoken up, right then and there. He should've ditched movie night to get an explanation and help Patton through whatever was going on.

"Roman's throwing together a movie night."

"I'll be down in a second! Ugh, I can never get this shaving thing down."

Patton forced a laugh, but it sounded just like that- forced.

 

 

_He had said some things he knew he'd regret._

_At the time, he had been angry._

_**"I don't understand why this is still going on."** _

_**"How do you still love him?** _ **Why _do you still love him?"_** __

_**"No wonder Logan stays away from feelings so much. This is unbearable."** _

_Patton had just came up to check on him. Then they had to get into an argument._

_The Moral Side was on the brink of tears. He exited the room, bringing the glass of water he had brought with him._

_Virgil had followed. He wasn't done._

_And that's when Patton fell._

_A few seconds passed where the Anxious Side had been in shock._

_Then he screamed._

_After Patton had been taken care of, his words had confused Virgil._

_**"I'm sorry you had to see that."** _

_**"It wasn't your fault."** _

_Patton had fallen silent after that._

_The Moral Side's mood only seemed to worsen from there on out._

_He became almost as jumpy as the Anxious Side himself._

_So jumpy that when apparently startled, the knife moved two inches away from where it had been cutting._

_Then, after the reprieve, things had evened out._

_Until Patton entered the Commons to Virgil and Roman arguing. For the second day in a row._

_Logan was desperately trying to solve things. Patton joined in, trying to restore the peace._

_Things got worse before they got better._

_Merely ten minutes later, Patton tripped on something again._

_**"Are you alright?"** _

_**"Thank God, the glass didn't break."** _

_**"We can see that, Peter Panic."** _

_**"Shut it, you two. Don't you dare start up an argument again."** _

_**"Um... Thanks, Logan. I'm not hurt."** _

_Patton had almost seemed disappointed, but any hint of such a thing was gone as soon as it arrived._

 

 

He knocked on the door. It was louder this time.

"Who is it?"

"V-Virgil. Can we talk?"

"Sure! Come on in!"

Virgil took a deep breath before entering the Moral Side's room. The injuries from the shaving incident yesterday were still clear on the older's face, and his smile still appeared forced.

"What do you want to talk about, kiddo?"

Virgil sat down beside Patton, trying to remember how to breathe.

He knew what he wanted to say, if only his anxiety would _let him say it-_

"You ok?"

He took a deep breath.

"A-About yesterday..."

Virgil refused to look at the other's face. That would only make things worse.

"A-all of th-those a-accidents... They w-weren't all accidents... W-weren't they?"

He could practically feel Patton stiffen. _Crap,_ he had screwed up.

"Why on earth would you say that, kiddo?"

Silence.

"I-I'm just... a bit of a clutz is all. I'm a-okay! I promise it's not what you think it is, I'm fine, I-"

Virgil met Patton's eyes.

_"What if it where me."_

The Moral Side's eyes widened, and all false happiness was wiped from his face. He grabbed Virgil's wrist and held it firmly.

"W-what are you t-trying to say? Y-you're not thinking of hurting yourself, are you?"

Virgil mentally kicked himself.

_'What the heck did you do that for!?! You shouldn't have said that! That just made things worse.'_

"N-No! I was..." He sighed, trying to pull away. Patton's grip remained strong.

"Virgil..."

"Patton. I was trying to get you to see it from my point of view."

The eldest froze.

Virgil took a deep breath to try to steady himself. "All I'm trying to say is... I don't like you hurting yourself."

"I-I'm not! I'm fine, Virgil, I'm-"

He stopped.

Virgil was giving him the closest thing to a dad-look the Anxious Side could muster.

"I care about you, Patton. We all do. Even if it's hard for us to show it sometimes, we all love you. We all appreciate you. We _need_ you. I know you're not fine. You've gotten better at not covering up, but it looks like there's still a few things you hide away. We're here to help you; Logan, Roman and I. Even Thomas. We all need you so much."

Patton's grip had loosened, so Virgil slid his hand down to hold Patton's own.

"If there's one thing that you've taught me, it's that I'm worth more than I thought. That I'm needed more than I could've imagined. That I'm loved more than I ever deserved. Well. That's three things but... Anyways. Consider this me repaying the favor. Because... I know I don't say it much... But I really do love you, Dad."

Patton couldn't help it anymore.

He broke down.

He pulled Virgil into a hug and held him close, crying onto his shoulder. The Anxious Side hugged him back, running one hand through the other's hair while the other rubbed circles on his back.

It took nearly half an hour before Patton spoke.

"I'm sorry. I'm not fine. N-not right now, at least."

"It's ok. Take your time. When you want to talk about it, I'm right here."

Patton gradually let go.

"How long has this been going on?" Virgil inquired, continuing to rub circles on Patton's hand.

"F-For about a year n-now."

A year.

"It started around the time Thomas started making Sanders Sides videos?"

"I-I think yeah."

"Any reason why?"

"I d-don't know. It depends. S-sometimes I just feel down. I-I didn't want y-you all worrying about m-me, so I p-pretended it w-was an a-accident."

Virgil remained silent, waiting to see if Patton would continue. He did.

"I-It just b-became a habit. I dunno why. W-whenever I was feeling bad, o-or things weren't going t-too good, I just... kinda s-staged an a-accident. I know, I know, i-it's terrible."

"It's ok. I'm here for you now. I can help you find other ways to get your sadness out. Or one of the others can? Logan's pretty smart, and Roman's good with ideas. But I won't tell them if you don't want me to."

"I-I'll tell them. They d-deserve to know. But... N-not right now."

Virgil nodded, scooting a bit closer to hug the Moral Side again.

Patton gladly accepted the hug, quietly sobbing for a few more minutes before speaking again.

"I'm sorry, kiddo. I wanted to avoid making a mess out of things and here I am, making a mess out of things."

"You're not making a mess, it's ok."

Patton sighed. "I'm supposed to be the one that's good at emotions. I can't help but feel like I'm screwing everything up, sometimes."

"Don't say that, you're not screwing anything up. Remember? There's no right or wrong way to feel. Whatever emotional state you're in is completely justified."

Patton giggled- an actual, real giggle. "Thanks, Virgil. I will admit, I do feel a bit better now."

"No prob."

 

 

Patton seemed much more energetic than usual. He was working actively throughout the Mindscape, touching things up and making everything just look _happier._

Virgil had actually come out of his room to watch, and even help in a few places.

"You're pretty peppy today, Padre," Roman joked. "What's the special occasion?"

"Oh, nothing special! Just was in a good mood and thought I would brighten things up a little."

"And what's Virgil's excuse?" Logan quipped from his armchair as he looked up from the book he had been reading.

"Guess I'm happy too," The Anxious Side responded with a smirk.

"What is this sorcery?" Roman teased, receiving an eye-roll in return.

Virgil opened his mouth to retort, but a small gasp drew his attention away.

Patton had knocked a glass (one of the few items left in the Mindscape that was so) flower vase off a table.

The Moral Side jumped away from it, fear flickering across his face.

_Away from it._

"Are you ok?" Logan threw his book down, rushing over.

"Y-yeah..."

"We'd better clean this up. Patton, you didn't receive any injuries?"

"N-no... I got away from it. I... I didn't want to get hurt."

Virgil couldn't help the small smile that found it's way onto his face.

 

 

Patton wasn't so accident prone after all. Of course there were still a few rocky moments, but in the end, things got better.

**Author's Note:**

> Questions? Suggestions? Critiques? Leave a comment (or a kudos if you really liked it). Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading!


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